


It's My Nature

by MJD_Voyager



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode: s03e26 Scorpion, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 06:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18243851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MJD_Voyager/pseuds/MJD_Voyager
Summary: Sometimes people fight, and then they apologize.





	It's My Nature

Kathryn is lightly dozing in the tub of steaming water filled with lavender scented salts, finally managing to close her eyes after being unable to fall asleep in bed for the past several nights.

She jerks awake as fingers brush through her hair.

“Mind if I help you with all of this?” Chakotay asks, his usually calm voice a little unsteady.

Without waiting for a response, he kneels down behind her, resting his elbows on the edge of the tub, and begins massaging her scalp with his fingertips.

She sighs heavily, closing her eyes again, and he pauses.

“Kathryn…?”

After another moment, she dips her head a fraction. It’s her way of giving him permission to proceed.

Picking up one of the many bottles sitting on the edge of the tub, he squirts a small pile of clear gel into his hand. He spreads it into her damp hair near the roots and resumes his massaging. The shampoo foams up into a thick lather, and Chakotay spends much more time than is necessary gently scrubbing, gradually moving down to her neck to try working out the knots formed there.

It isn’t helping. She’s still tense and eventually he gives up, reaching for the hand-held shower head and rinsing away the soap from her long locks.

He then takes a large dollop of creamy white conditioner and spreads it onto his palms. As he reaches to her again, he speaks softly.

“Kathryn, we need to fix this.”

Her only response is to hang her head lower, keeping her eyes closed.

“We had our first major fight. We knew it would happen sooner or later.”

He combs his fingers through her hair, giving the conditioner plenty of time to really set in. He knows he could have been finished minutes ago, but he doesn’t want to give up this excuse to be with her, to touch her, and to talk to her.

She stays quiet.

To talk _at_ her, he amends, because she hasn’t said a word since he walked in.

“I feel like we’ve worked everything out, between the captain and commander. And I’m pretty sure you agree with me about that…” He hesitates for a beat, waiting for a reaction. When he receives none, he continues, “Now we need to figure out _us_. We need to learn how to talk to each other again. We have to come up with a way to have a disagreement at work and be able to get past it at home. We can’t let our professional lives ruin our personal ones. This wasn’t an isolated incident. It won’t be the last time we argue about command decisions.”

He can feel his frustration rising at her silence, so he once again turns on the faucet and distracts himself with removing the conditioner from her hair.

When he shuts the water off, he isn’t sure if he actually heard something or not. He stills and waits.

“I’m sorry.” It’s a whisper so soft that it’s more like a sigh. “I’m so sorry.” She says it only slightly louder the second time.

“Kath-“

She cuts him off. “I shouldn’t have… What I said was uncalled for. It was inconsiderate and selfish and… cruel.” She turns away from him to face the wall and bends her legs up out of the water, wrapping her arms around them and resting her forehead on her bare knees.

Then she shivers and continues, her speech muffled by her own body.

“I said I was alone. Chakotay… after everything we’ve been through, I know I’m not. I do-“ her voice cracks, but she keeps speaking. “For so long now, you have been by my side, up there,” one finger vaguely points in the direction of the bridge, “and in here.” The rest of her hand waves around once, indicating her quarters. “And I know that you trust me, just as I trust you.” She takes a shaky breath. “I said those things out of anger… Fear. And I am ashamed.”

“I think we both said some things we aren’t proud of, Kathryn.” He puts a hand on her shoulder and she shudders.

“I’m so- so sorry Chakotay.” She’s back to being barely audible and the catch in her words tells him she has started crying. He hopes that with the tears, she is letting go.

Kneeling over the side of the tub, he reaches out to sneak an arm under each of hers and pulls her toward him, her shoulder blades pressing against his chest. Her wet hair and skin soak the front of his gray t-shirt, but he doesn’t care because she has finally starting talking to him again. She acknowledged his presence and his words, and then she apologized. And now, hopefully, she’s moving on.

Her head tucks under his chin as she leans back into him more fully.

“Kathryn, I’ll forgive you if you forgive me?”

She nods against him and sniffs quietly.

He smiles. “Good. Well that was easy.” This elicits a snort from Kathryn and he knows that they’re going to be ok. It’s not laughter, not yet, but it’s a start.

~~~

Later, in her bed that has actually been _their_ bed since New Earth, her head on his shoulder, his fingers drawing lazy designs on her bare hip, their legs tangled together, she asks, “Chakotay, how can you move past this so easily?”

So close to sleep, his lethargic mind takes a moment to come up with an answer. Eventually he does find something just right, smiles, and responds. “When it comes to you Kathryn, I can’t help it. It’s my nature.”


End file.
